High Society Class
by Cyberlaydie
Summary: Annabeth Chase disappeared from the world of the Greeks ten years ago. Now a successful New York socialite, Annabeth has completely forgone everything her old life used to stand for. But the unexpected arrival from an old friend will change everything, thrusting her back into the life of adventure, love, and loss she once knew. Eventual Percabeth.
1. Sequins and Diamonds

**Hello everyone!**

**So, I started writing this story about two years ago after TLO came out. I've gone through random bursts of inspiration and abandonment with this story and I feel like I have grown a lot as a writer since I originally uploaded it. That is why I came to the decision to rewrite most of it and re-upload it as a new story. I'm going to be honest, I can't promise this is any good and I can't promise constant updates, but I have some of this already written so I'll try to update regularly at first. **

**This story takes place 10 years after The Last Olympian. I guess it's considered AU now because I give no recognition to any of **_**The Hero's of Olympus **_**series, but when I started this TLO had just been released. POV will always be Annabeth's unless I say otherwise. Well now that that long, introductory A/N is over, enjoy the first chapter everyone!**

_Annabeth Chase hugged her friends and said goodbye. Percy took her hand and they walked out to the road where her cab was waiting to take her to the airport. "I'll miss you," Percy said. Annabeth was scheduled to be in California with her dad for the next two months. "I'll miss you too," she smiled at him, and they kissed. They stood there hugging each other for a few moments, but she couldn't delay leaving any longer. Once everything was in the cab she pressed her hand against the glass and tried to smile, but her guess was that she looked considerably listless. She saw him wave as the cab drove away. She kept trying to remember the fact that they would be together again in two months, and that it isn't that long. _

_10 years passed. _

Annabeth eyed the clock on her wall. She had about 5 minutes before she absolutely had to leave the house, or she would no longer count as fashionably late. Running behind was just the icing on a not so great day.

Her hair was almost done, as well as her makeup. She walked over to her bed, where her dress was laying and she pulled it on over her head. She knew she had to get going, so she grabbed some strappy black heels, not bothering to check which pair she had taken. Once her hair was clipped up she dabbed a little more eyeliner on, then ran back towards her bed to grab her black handbag. One quick look in the mirror and she was ready to go. She had been going to these types of events for years now, but each one was still tricky. What do you wear to an engagement party? It took a little planning on her part but all in all she thought she was dressed appropriately for the occasion. She was wearing a short, purple sequined Neiman Marcus dress, her hair was up with only a few strands hanging lose, and the pearls she had on were subtle compared to the dress.

She almost made it out the door before she realized she had forgotten something.

"Shit!" Annabeth cursed, and ran back into the apartment.

"Where is my damn phone?" she whined to herself as she went on a rampage through her apartment. Once she had thoroughly wrecked her apartment she realized that she must have left it at her office.

"Great…" she muttered, "isn't that just great?"

Fashionably late no longer applied to this situation, she was now full blown, carelessly late. Seeing no way to remedy the circumstances without her phone, she ran out of her building and hailed a cab. Once the cab driver had the address of her firm the anxiety of missing her phone for a whole afternoon started to kicked in. Hopefully nothing disastrous had happened. Hopefully none of her buildings had crumbled, hopefully no projects fell through. Hopefully the sky wasn't falling.

Hopefully _her _sky wasn't falling.

The taxi sped through the congested streets of the city. When they arrived she asked him to wait, hopefully she would only be a few minutes.

The elevator wasn't moving fast enough. Being late was one of the things she hated most in the world. Missing deadlines could mean the end of your career. Showing up late to appointments and events just displayed poor planning and no class. Lucy was probably going to kill her at this point. This party was the most important thing in Lucy's life at the moment, and Annabeth would not sacrifice weeks of listening to Lucy stress and complain just to miss it because she had forgotten to think for a day.

She ran down the hallway, and stopped when she reached her office door. Pausing, she stood in the doorway looking for an easy fix for her problem. And thank God, her phone was sitting on her desk. Well, that was one good thing today. But of course the only bit of luck she'd had all day was immediately followed up by something awful. Whirling around as fast as she could to try and get out the door and back to her cab, she managed to smash her knee into a table next to her desk. Yelping and losing her balance in her 6 inch heels, she hit the floor, all of her weight falling onto the knee she had hit on the table. She screamed a curse as she hit the floor, but the sound was drowned out by the items that had been sitting on the table crashing to the ground.

She pulled herself up and started to pick up what had fallen. Luckily it was just a couple of photos, nothing had broken.

The first picture was of herself and Lucy, Annabeth's bestfriend. Annabeth had met Lucy shortly after her move to the city. The girls were very similar in personality and always managed to have a good time together. Lucy was truly Annabeth's best friend, always being able to tell when something was wrong and being able to say the right things to cheer her up. No one had cared about Annabeth like Lucy did in a very long time. But, if she didn't get to Lucy's party within the next ten minutes, Annabeth's guess was that she would soon be Lucy's former best friend.

The second photo was of Ryan, Annabeth's boyfriend. Ryan had been part of Annabeth's life for three years, and she had been able to call him her boyfriend for two. She absolutely adored him, but there was something lacking in their relationship. Sometimes it felt like there was not enough tenderness there, like their relationship was always either on fire with passion, or they were together simply out of obligation. Sometimes she never saw him, he worked so much. Of course he was half of the reason for her status in this city. She probably could have achieved it herself, but it was nice to have someone to share it with. He knew everything that went on in her life, and he was usually good about being a supportive boyfriend.

The last picture she paused to look at before she put back on the table. She always did this with that photo; it had become sort of a ritual. The photo had been taken exactly 10 years before. Ryan had asked about this picture before, but it was the one part of her past Annabeth wasn't willing to share. It was one of her favorite photos, which was most of the reason it was on display in her office. The photo portrayed a much younger, youthful Annabeth Chase, at 16. Her companion, a young boy with black hair and bright green eyes, had his arm around her waist and was smiling at her, while she smiled at the camera. Not only did she love the picture, she loved the memories associated with it.

_Percy Jackson_, Annabeth thought to herself. _Whatever happened to you?_

Her daze was interrupted when her phone buzzed in her hand.

_Lucy Hamilton:_

Where are you? The party started twenty minutes ago. Annabeth Chase. The possibility that you die tragically and mysteriously goes up greatly if you skip out on my party.

Annabeth jumped up. Her knee screamed in protest. There was already a knot forming and the knot was already turning purple. Maybe by the end of the night her knee would match her dress, lovely.

15 minutes later she arrived at the place of the party. On the way there she had sorted through her missed calls and messages. Luckily she hadn't missed anything too important. Two text messages from Lucy, one from Ryan, a voicemail on something work related, and three missed calls from a restricted number. No voicemail, no text, nothing. That struck her as strange, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

The party was already in full swing when Annabeth arrived, only 40 minutes late. Half of the people she didn't recognize, but the other half she identified as mutual friends or people she knew from her social circle. She waved at a few people, but set off to find Lucy, or Ryan, or someone else she was close to.

She succeeded a few minutes later, when she noticed Lucy talking to some people and holding a drink a few feet away.

"Lucy!" Annabeth called her name, walking in that direction.

"Annabeth, where have you been?" Lucy asked and hugged her.

"I was running late, and had to stop by my office because I lost my phone, and yeah, things just aren't going my way tonight," Annabeth smiled sheepishly, and decided to change the subject. "I love your dress! Who are you wearing?" The dress was a simple black one shoulder, skin tight. Her shoes were black too, and her only accessory were her small diamond studs, no doubt to draw attention to the huge ring on her finger.

"Thanks, its Versace, I wanted to go simple tonight," She laughed and flashed her left hand.

"Nothing's simple with that giant rock on your finger. Noah did well, I'm proud. Formal congratulations are in order, considering this is your engagement party,"

"Thanks a million, have you found Ryan yet? He's here somewhere, I saw him earlier with some of his golf buddies," Lucy commented.

"No, but I should probably go look for him. He texted me earlier and told me he had something important to tell me. I'll catch up with you later, okay? And sorry again for being late!" Lucy didn't seem mad at all, which was a relief.

"Just another day in the life of Annabeth Chase. Go get a drink, you look tense."

Annabeth decided to take Lucy's advice and walked over the bar, ordered a vodka soda, and sat down to drink it. She looked around. People were standing around drinking and talking, most likely superficial conversations about things Annabeth had little interest in. She had witnessed scenes like this for years, being in New York's social class, and had learned to tolerate them. Her mind flashed back to the picture of herself and Percy she had knocked off the table earlier. Annabeth at 16 was very different from Annabeth and 26. Somehow she had evolved from a girl who could be happy in an orange camp tee shirt (back then sometimes even battle armor), hair a mess, and stains on her jeans to a woman who walked around in designer labels on a daily basis, always had her hair done, and wouldn't step foot out of her apartment without makeup on. She loved her life, but sometimes she wondered how that free spirited tomboy had ended up a successful woman in New York society.

Someone sat down next to her. "You, look, amazing," Ryan kissed her cheek.

"Hey honey," Annabeth responded, pecked him on the lips and took another sip of her drink. "How's the party been so far?"

"Pretty good, Lucy seems happy, and so does Noah. But honestly, if this is how they throw an engagement party, I'm scared to see the wedding," He pretended to cringe. And he was right to do so. Annabeth thought that Lucy had mentioned something around 400 people here tonight. Lucy ran one of the top event planning companies in New York, so of course she knew how to throw a party.

"I'm scared to be the one to have to deal with Lucy's nervous breakdowns that are bound to occur over the next year," Annabeth admitted. Planning a wedding was chaotic enough if you aren't Lucy Hamilton, but if you are multiply that stress by five. Lucy didn't have any sisters, and Annabeth was her closest friend, so naturally she would assume the position of maid of honor, also known as the woman who has to hold everything together when it starts to fall apart.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. Frankly I'd be more scared if you weren't the maid of honor. Lucy might be insane, but you're the only one that has a decent hold on her. I think she'd go off the deep end if you weren't around," Ryan explained.

"Isn't that what Noah's for now?" Annabeth laughed.

They made light hearted conversation for a few minutes before Ryan quickly changed the subject.

"Oh hey, I forgot to tell you. You remember Derek right?" He asked.

"He's one of your regional manager's right? Accounting wasn't it?"

"You got it," he confirmed. "Well Derek handed in his letter of resignation today. He'll be leaving next month. Guess who is being recommended to take his position?" Ryan had a sly smile on his face.

"That's wonderful!" Annabeth squealed, throwing an arm around him. "I'm so happy for you, baby!"

Secretly, Annabeth's stomach churned at the thought of Ryan taking an even more time consuming job. He was already away so often. They had been together for two years, but there were times when she wouldn't see him for weeks. She didn't know how much longer she could endure him being away constantly.

Annabeth let the conversation die. Eventually they found Lucy and Noah. Annabeth stayed with them as their friend Elliot joined them, and Ryan went off with a couple of his gold buddies. A typical night out for Annabeth.

Besides social events she had no interest in, the most exciting thing she had to look forward to was a new project she was starting at her architectural firm next week. She couldn't think of anything other than that. _Your new Louis Vuitton bag should arrive sometime in the next couple days… _She thought to herself, but somehow even that had lost its appeal. Getting bored of all the people she was around, she excused herself to go find a restroom, and that's when her night got interesting.

The restroom was down a hallway off of the main ballroom. It took a little searching but she eventually found it. After touching up her makeup and hair she headed back out. She heard someone walking further down the hallway, but didn't pay much mind to it. She glanced down at her knee, it hurt, and the heels weren't helping. She detected a slight limp, because she couldn't put much weight on it. She picked up on the footsteps again. They were getting closer and a little more rapid, but again she didn't pay much attention to it.

She kept walking down the hallway. "Annabeth!" Someone shouted from behind her. She turned around nonchalantly at first, before being hit with the biggest shock she had received in ten years.

His green eyes glowed, she had to be hallucinating. She probably wasn't even here right now, she had hit her head when she fell and was passed out in her office. That was the only logical solution she could think of at this point.

It was no trick of the mind. Percy Jackson was running right for her.

"P-Percy!" She stammered in disbelief. "What?"

"Annabeth," he gasped as he caught his breath."I need your help right now!"

**I hope you liked it! I'm not going to pretend like I won't beg for reviews, but they honestly do make me smile and encourage me to write more, so R&R!**

**I will hopefully update within the next couple of days, if not by next Wednesday!**


	2. Those Dazzling Stars

**Thank you for the overwhelming support for the first chapter! I hope you all find 20 dollars on the ground today. Oh, I also don't know what the point of the italicized bits at the beginning are, but they're fun so I'm going to keep doing them. I will try to put some foreshadowing or flashbacks in each one. Enjoy.**

**Oh my, I forgot to do a disclaimer in the first chapter. I have no sort of legal claim on anything Greek or Mythological. **

_Annabeth tried to concentrate on the sound of the gravel crunching under her feet, and keeping her balance so her heel wouldn't snap on the uneven road, which was already hard enough without a damaged knee. She had nothing to say to Percy anymore. The shock of the evening had worn off, and now she could feel the bitterness seeping into her veins. Her heart ached. It was the same type of angry, broken heartache she had experienced ten years ago, when she sat in that busy airport waiting for him, but he never came._

Annabeth stood there in shock, completely stunned and unable to form sentences. Percy Jackson, the boy that had been her best friend, the boy she had put her life on the line for, the boy who had once cared for her more than anyone and who she had been head over heels for, was standing in front of her, asking her to leave her best friend's party and run off with him to some unknown location.

"Percy," Annabeth opened her mouth to say something else, but nothing came out. His name rolled off her tongue with a familiar ease that gave her the smallest amount of pleasure. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed such a small thing as saying his name. She opened her mouth to speak again, but again nothing came out. She inspected him as he stood in front of her. Somehow he hadn't change. Sure, physically he was older, you could see the maturity in his features, but he still wore his hair the same and his green eyes still had that ocean sparkle in them.

"I need your help," He grabbed her wrist and tried to guide her in the direction he had come, down the hall and probably to an exit, the opposite direction of Lucy's party.

"Wait," She twisted out of his grip. "No. This, is, confusing." She didn't know how better to put it. "I can't go anywhere with you." She knew she had to stay at Lucy's party. She was already off to a bad start being maid of honor, which was possibly the most important thing she would ever do for a friend, so she was not going to fail. She turned away from Percy, trying to leave and go back to the party, but something about the way he was watching her was enticing. When she met his eyes she couldn't break the connection. There was a certain intensity in his gaze.

"Annabeth," they way he said her name sent a chill down her spine. Mixed emotions and memories flooded her head in a split second. "I know this is crazy," he started. Yes, it was crazy. "But I was your best friend once, we trusted each other more than anything and we owe each other our lives. And now, as a final favor I'm asking you to trust me."

She revisited the theory that she had hit her head when she fell. That had to be it, because this couldn't really be happening. Percy Jackson couldn't be here, wanting her to come with him to God knows where for God knows what. But he had grabbed her hand. His touch had most definitely been real, she was sure of it, because her skin had tingled at the spot. She looked nervously in the direction of the party. Lucy might not notice her absence, she had four hundred other people, and she might just assume Annabeth was lost in the crowd. Ryan would notice, but she could shoot him a text explaining that she had felt sick and needed some air, only to end up returning to her apartment. He would understand, he might even try to come see her after this was all over and bring her soup or something that would make her feel better, she would like that.

At that moment she knew she would go with him. She also knew she would regret it, and part of her was still bitter towards Percy, it had taken a long time for her to get over him. Her gut instinct was telling her to go, if only to get an explanation. It had been ten years, she was more than deserving of answers. A smaller, less dominant part of her brain was telling her to go because it was Percy; he would always hold a special place in her heart no matter what.

She took a deep breath before opening her mouth, checking one last time to make sure she was making the right decision. "Okay, Percy. I'll go with you, but you better not be kidnapping me or something."

His face lit up with those words. "Deal," he agreed, taking her wrist and beginning to run down the hallway. He led her out a back door and into an alleyway. She wasn't sure where they were going, but her mind went blank when she saw something giant moving in the back of the alley. Immediately, her mind flashed to all the monsters she had fought as a kid, and she really hoped Percy hadn't sought her out to help him fight some giant threat to New York. She couldn't do it even if she wanted to, it had been too long and she knew it. She hoped Percy realized that too. She panicked when Percy started to walk towards it, almost calling out for him to stop, but she restrained herself so she could observe what he was doing.

To Annabeth's relief it was not a monster at all. Well it definitely wasn't a part of the normal world, but it wasn't harmful. It was a Pegasus. The winged creature stood majestically waiting for its master, who appeared to be Percy.

_That's right,_ Annabeth Remembered, _Percy can talk to horses._

He hopped on and started scratching its head before turning to Annabeth and offering his hand. "Hop on," he said so casually it startled her.

She was gapping. "Are you kidding me? I am not getting on any sort of flying horse," She said matter-of-factly. Short dress, pumps, Pegasus, doesn't really sounds like a good combination.

"Oh come on Annabeth. You used to ride these things all the time," his hand was still extended for her, because this was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Maybe I did when I was sixteen, but I'm twenty six now, and I haven't had anything to do with these things in ten years. This is insane!"

Percy paused, as if he was considering this for the first time. "That is a valid point, but look, Annabeth, this all might be a little foreign right now, but you're a Half Blood, a Greek, a Demigod, whatever you want to call it, this stuff is in your blood. Now come on, I know you can do it." She felt his persuasiveness affecting her thoughts. Something about riding a Pegasus again was intriguing.

She took Percy's hand and he hoisted her up onto the Pegasus. She squealed as she heard the tare of fabric. Percy looked amused as she searched frantically for the tare. Eventually she found where the dress had torn at the side, but luckily it wasn't that horrible, maybe she could get it sewn and it would be fine. She loved this dress, but she was rapidly losing sequins. She heard Percy laugh, probably at the distress that was so plainly displayed on her face.

"You've changed," He commented.

"I grew up," She responded. "And I see you've stayed the same?" She said somewhat snippy tone to her voice.

"You'd be surprised," He said. She didn't get a chance to respond. Suddenly the Pegasus took off with a burst of speed. She screamed and grabbed on to Percy, burying her face in his back. She had no idea how she had ever done this with such confidence before; she could barely ride a moped.

Once she got used to the sensation of flying she got the nerve to open her eyes. She didn't dare look down, only straight ahead. She set her head down on Percy's shoulder. "How did you find me?" She asked, honestly curious.

"How could I not? You're famous. It doesn't take much to track down a famous person if you're determined enough."

She felt like blushing, and she might have is she wasn't still scared stiff. "I'm not famous, not even close."

"You are famous. You have a firm here and in Los Angeles, and everyone knows that. I see your face every time I go into the city, because you have that giant billboard near the Lincoln Tunnel. Everybody knows who you are. If you want your dream home built you go to Annabeth Chase." Her mind flashed to the billboard that she had reluctantly agreed to do. Chase Design Co. it read; the name of Annabeth's architectural firm. Percy was correct. She hated looking at it though, but would have to face it every time she went through the tunnel. She looked intimidating and cold, not at all like her personality, but the people in charge of the shoot kept saying it symbolized being strong and stable like one of her buildings. She just did what they said, what use was arguing?

"Thank you, I appreciate the flattery. But I meant how did you find me at Lucy's party tonight?"

"I may or may not have stolen your phone earlier," He admitted sheepishly. She believed him because she was not the type of person to leave her blackberry lying around, that thing was her lifeline. The possibility that a crazy, half god, ex boyfriend stole it was far more likely than her simply losing it somewhere.

"I knew I didn't misplace my phone!" Her momentary smugness turned to anger. "Percy Jackson!" She yelled at him, "Do you have _any_ idea how much stress that caused me?!"

"Sorry," Annabeth thought she could detect a slight trace of guilt in his voice. "But hey, you got it back didn't you? I returned it to where I found it."

"Yeah, I got it back," she decided to change the subject. "Where are we going anyway?"

He turned his torso to look at her. His hair whipped around in the wind, still shaggy as ever. He shot a grin in her direction. "Camp Half Blood!" He said with enthusiasm.

The expression on Annabeth's face sent his smirk into a full blown smile. She didn't want to go back there. She had left for a reason. No she had run away. She had run away and she was ashamed of her actions, and had no intentions of ever going back.

"Percy, I want off the Pegasus." She was being serious and tried to keep a straight face, but he just laughed. This infuriated her. What about this situation was funny to him?

"It's too late now!" The Pegasus dove swiftly, and Annabeth screamed while holding on for dear life. She buried her face into Percy's shoulder again and didn't move until they hit the ground. The impact sent a jolt through both of them. Even when she could feel they had stopped moving Annabeth still had her eyes shut tight, not wanting to open them in fear that they might take off into the sky again. Eventually after what seemed like an eternity she opened them and saw Percy standing there with his hand extended ready to help her off the horse. Well, she _had_ demanded to be let off, so she took his hand and made her way down to the ground. She tried to make her dismount as ladylike as possible and the new slit in her dress made getting off a little easier than getting on. That she was grateful for.

Once she was safely on the ground and the Pegasus had flown away she took in the scenery for the first time. They were standing in the middle of a large dirt road that led down into a large grassy valley. Strawberry fields surrounded on every side. In the center of the valley she recognized Camp Half Blood. She knew they were going to have to walk, but the road ahead looked full of bumps and rocks that would be easy to trip and fall on. "It couldn't drop us off a little closer to the camp?" She wondered out loud.

"It's not our Pegasus, I kind of borrowed it, so I'm thankful it even dropped us off this close." He shrugged, and then added, "It's only about half a mile walk, maybe three quarters at most."

Annabeth looked down at her feet. "These are Donna Karan shoes…" she whined.

Percy just looked at her incredulously; Annabeth had had enough for one night. "What are you looking at me like that for?" She snapped, instantly regretting it. Percy hadn't done anything awful to her tonight. For all she knew he was in serious trouble and here she was being horribly rude. "Sorry," she added quietly.

"It's nothing, just… It's just that I'm wondering if I grabbed the right Annabeth Chase." His green eyes were smoldering. She opened her mouth to respond that of course she was the right Annabeth Chase. She was the same person he knew from camp all those years ago. But then she remembered the photo that sat in her office. She was not the same girl in that photo. That girl would have frowned upon her life now. With the exception of her architectural firm her life had gone in the exact opposite of what that young hopeful had wanted. It was a sad thought, and for a second she almost let it get to her. But it was also reality, and Annabeth was a realistic person. She liked her life now. She had changed. She had grown up.

"We should start walking," she turned and Percy followed, and they walked down the road in silence.

Annabeth looked up. The stars spread across the sky in dazzling patterns. Sparkling and dancing as if they didn't have a care in the world. She had forgotten it never rained at camp, it was always perfect.

Percy was the first to break the silence. "You look good," he said after a minute. She got the impression he was not talking about her physical features, or her Neiman Marcus dress, and that made her blush. "You've done well for yourself. I'm proud." His eyes locked with hers. The way he was looking at her was intense but had a sense of familiarity. He was searching for something in her. Possibly he was looking for a trace of that young girl he knew. Or maybe he was looking for whatever had driven him to seek her out.

Annabeth was suddenly stricken with anger. She should have found Percy's recent affection sweet, or flattering, or anything other than condescending. She felt betrayed. Where were these feelings ten years ago, when she had called up his mother in desperation, only to be told, "he doesn't want to talk to you, Annabeth"? If he cared about her now, he surely didn't back then.

Annabeth then closed herself off to Percy. She was now blocking out every emotion that was stirring inside her, remembering the pain she had been through before. She had loved him so much, but he surprised her and turned out to be a completely different person than she thought he was.

"I was just shocked about how different you are now," he continued.

"Well I'm not exactly the same person you knew," she said coldly gesturing toward her body.

"Yeah, I guess not. How did that happen by the way, if I may ask?" He seemed honestly curious, so she decided to give him an answer.

"Well, once I ended up in California permanently, I found myself living a surprisingly normal life. I don't know why or how, but I was slowly being effected less and less by monsters or anything having to do with the mythological world. And once I didn't have to worry about that anymore, I found I was able to care for myself a little bit more. I started putting on makeup, not having to worry about sweating it off in the training arena, and I found that I enjoyed putting a little effort into my appearance. Also, the career I went into requires a certain degree of professionalism, as any career does, and I need to look my best. And then thanks to my career, I started surrounding myself with people similar to who I am now. They're my friends and I value them dearly. I don't know, it just gradually happened I guess." She shrugged after the long explanation as if it was nothing.

"Huh," Percy said, and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

Their arrival at camp caused quite a stir. When they reached the border Annabeth took a minute to observe her surroundings. Nothing had changed. The Golden Fleece still hung from Thalia's tree. Campers and magical creatures still littered the grounds, playing games and pretending to fight monsters. They were probably coming back from their camp fire. It brought back a plethora of memories for Annabeth.

The chaos started once the campers realized that there were two foreign demigods standing at their border. She only had time to wonder if Percy had sent word of their arrival in advance, or even if he was even still welcomed at the place. They were suddenly surrounded by bodies, and most of them had weapons. The campers were wearing expressions ranging from fierceness to anxiety. The ones with traces of fierceness on their faces were most likely the older, more experienced campers. It was the beginning of summer after all, so most of the looks of anxiety probably came from first years. They were all talking at once, which made it difficult to respond to the questions they were throwing out.

A familiar figure broke up the mob scene.

"Everyone, calm down!" He started pushing his way through the mass of people. "Jessica, put down the Greek fire!" He reprimanded a small blonde girl holding a jar of the stuff. Everyone parted to let the centaur through.

"Chiron!" Percy grinned.

"Well Percy, I wasn't expecting you until next week," Chiron said making it obvious this wasn't the first time they had seen each other recently. Chiron then turned to look at Annabeth, obviously expecting someone familiar, but stopped dead in his tracks when he realized it was her. "Annabeth Chase?" He exclaimed.

"We needed four," Percy broke in, "Knowledge lost ten years past, who else could that be?"

"Knowledge lost ten years past?" Annabeth inquired.

"You two should come to Big House," Chiron said slowly. He was obviously not over the shock of seeing Annabeth yet, especially this side of Annabeth. He turned to a camper standing to his right. "Go find Phillip and Faith, tell them I need them in the Big House," he said to the boy. The camper ran off and the trio started for the meeting place.

Murmurs came from the crowd that was now starting to disperse in different directions. She knew enough about camp to know rumors were already spreading. Child of Poseidon tows in a Child of Aphrodite girlfriend, who looks like she'd been through hell and back. Yeah, it was probably something like that.

"What is going on?"She whispered to Percy as they walked.

Percy sighed. "Chiron will explain more in the Big House, but we think we might be in the beginning stages of the next Great Prophecy."

**Well, I promised and update on Wednesday, and I think I did pretty good getting it out on Thursday. My family is coming into town for all of next week so I'm not sure how much writing time I'll have, but I'll try to update by next Thursday.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! R&R as always. You all are so great! Thank you!**

**(PS I didn't proof read because I'm a lazy twit, so don't get too mad at me for any typos!)**


	3. Coffee and Satyrs

**Hi. I swear I'm not trying to be evil by not updating, life just kind of attacked me all at once and I seriously hated this chapter more than anything in the world but I rewrote it so now it's okay. I'm still not particularly fond of it but anyway, here we are and hopefully the next update will come sooner. Enjoy. **

_Annabeth sat on the cold steps, staring down the long street as the horizon gradually started to lighten. Cars started to go by; the street was beginning to pulse with life. She had a life to get back to as well, but she was stuck in last night. She wasn't seeing the horizon. She was seeing those bright green eyes. _

_Ryan sat faithfully next to her, occasionally brushing his hand over hers or running his fingers through her hair. She still looked like a mess, and he was obviously concerned about it. _

"_Do you want to tell me what happened?" He asked._

_She didn't answer. All she could see was Percy's face. _

Annabeth had originally believed she was going to have an uneventful night. She would go to Lucy's party, have a few drinks, go home with Ryan, and then wake up the next morning and go to work. Nothing out of the ordinary was supposed to happen. She hadn't planned for anything unexpected and she was utterly unprepared for it. She was never prepared for any sort of change, but something like this? Oh no, she would not adjust to this well. Somehow she had ended up in a place that had once meant so much to her, but she had sworn she would never go back to. Now she was here listening to some nonsense about the fate of the world being fed to her by magical creatures. Someone had to have put something in her drink. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.

She began to panic and her muscles started to lock up. She stopped, her heels digging into the ground. She had to leave this place; she would not have a repeat of her sixteenth year. She didn't believe she had it in her to go through something like that again.

Percy noticed she had stopped walking and he turned around. She could vaguely feel the deer in headlights look taking over her face. She stuttered, trying to get her thoughts straight. "I can't, Percy. I'm sorry, I can't do this. Whoever you're looking for I'm not her. Prophesies are never specific and I think you all must have misinterpreted it. I'm confident you can find someone just as good, if not much better than myself." She looked at him in desperation, searching for some sort of confirmation.

"Annabeth, we need you. Trust me," was his simple reply.

"I can't. I don't even know you. This isn't my life, I need to go home," She felt bad, but she was scared. Cowardice takes over when you're scared and it pushes you into doing shameful things. Back then she had been fearless, but now she was afraid of falling. The last thing she imagined herself doing at this point was reclaiming her teenage lifestyle. It just wasn't going to happen. She turned to leave, but Percy intercepted her.

"Annabeth, if you can please just give me 'til the morning. I will have you home by the time the sun is coming up. Just hear me out, and then I promise if you want to leave I won't stand in your way." She could see the sincerity in his eyes. He wanted this so badly. What bothered her was that she didn't know what had driven him to seek her out in the first place. Sure, he had probably thought about her some since he last saw her. Heck, she had been thinking about him shortly before all this happened. But what would make him think that he could find her and expect her to jump right back into this world? Surely he was daring, but she had never thought him insane.

She owed him absolutely nothing, but he owed her everything. Maybe that's what he was trying to do, and this would lead to some sort of apology. "Okay fine," Annabeth said. "You have until the sun comes up. But I better have some answers Percy Jackson. I am not getting myself into this without knowing exactly what's going on."

His face lit up. He was obviously pleased with her response. The fact that she broached the subject of being involved with whatever's going on probably gave him an insignificant glimmer of hope.

"Don't get your hopes up," she told him sharply as he dragged her to the big house, but he wasn't listening anymore.

Entering the Big House was hard, she had spent so much time there and had so many fond, and some not so fond, memories of the place. The first thing she picked up on was the smell. It smelled different. It definitely smelled like coffee. She looked around. There was a coffee machine sitting in the corner brewing a pot of the stuff. That's new.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" She was surprised how easily she was able to joke with the centaur. "You never let us have coffee when we were young. You said it didn't help with the ADHD." She raised an eye brow at him.

He laughed. "It doesn't. This coffee pot has always been here, we just don't give caffeine to anyone under the age of eighteen. I figured you two might want some, since it's already late and this is promising to be a long night."

Annabeth didn't like the sound of a long night.

They poured some coffee and sat down. Chiron started to ask trivial questions to pass the time. Where did you end up going to school? What made you move to Los Angeles? What made you move back to New York? How does it feel to achieve your dream? Annabeth honestly had no tolerance for it at the moment. Being there made her uncomfortable and she really just wanted to go home.

About five minutes after they sat down the door burst opened in a dramatic fashion, and a wide eyed, curly hair satyr stood in the doorframe.

Annabeth locked eyes with Percy, then with Grover. Grover kept staring at Annabeth. Percy looked at Chrion, then at Annabeth, then at Grover. Chrion stared at all three of them collectively.

Grover didn't say anything. He walked over to Annabeth and stood in front of her, to where their faces were only a few inches apart. Annabeth wasn't sure what to do, but to her surprise, the satyr threw his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. It almost knocked the breath out of her. Percy laughed.

"_What happened to you?_" Grover asked as if he was in a state of shock.

She just blinked, unsure if he was referring to her appearance, the fact that she had disappeared for a while, or both. Probably both. She was speechless; how do you answer something like that?

The awkwardness of the moment was broken when two campers strolled through the door. A young girl with honey colored eyes and blonde hair that was paler than Annabeth's shade. The boy she held hands with had dark longer hair he kept tucked behind his ears, and blue eyes. The eyes on both campers were the prominent features, which they usually were with demigods. The pair laughed a short laugh when they took in the scene in front of them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were interrupting something," the boy said. The girl chuckled to herself.

"Phillip!" Percy exclaimed, walking over and clasping the boy on the back. "Long time no see buddy, where've you been?"

Obviously the boys were close friends. Maybe Percy held some sort of senior counselor position, which would make sense.

"The better question is where've you been, man?" Phillip replied.

By now Grover had let go of Annabeth and was facing Percy. "Los Angeles," he said with a straight face.

Percy's expression morphed from light hearted to rage in a split second. "Dude!" he exclaimed as Grover started to laugh hysterically.

"What?" Annabeth asked. Any mention of Percy and Los Angeles sent off red flags in her mind.

"Ignore Grover," Percy's expression had returned to normal, "he's turned into a jerk since you left."

"Ignore all three of them," the girl said stepping up to the plate. "They're all perpetual five year olds. I'm Faith, daughter of Apollo, and this is Phillip, son of Zeus; it's really nice to meet you."

It took Annabeth a moment to answer, stuck on the son of Zeus part. If she remembered correctly Zeus wasn't supposed to have any more children after Thalia, but then again, when did the gods ever follow any sort of set rules?

"Likewise," She eventually responded. She automatically liked this girl. The perpetual five year old comment sent a smile to her face, realizing how accurate it really was.

"Children," Chiron broke up the scene, a mix of condescension and sarcasm laced his voice. "Please sit down, we have things to discuss."

The girls sat down obediently, Faith taking a seat next to Annabeth, while the boys grumbled on the way to their chairs. The group dynamic was already being set.

"So," Annabeth started the conversation. "The Great Prophesy. Last I remember that's not so great, and I would really love for it not to be happening again." She tried to make a joke out of it, but she was really just picturing faces. The cuts and bruises all over Percy's beat up face, the absolute desperation and sadness on Luke's. Everyone she loved had been so badly hurt and she didn't think she could go through it again.

"Do you remember The Prophesy, Annabeth?" Chiron asked her.

"Um, something about seven and the end of the world right?" That was all she could summon up. She wasn't sure if her memory was going or if she had just repressed that particular passage.

Faith repeated The Prophesy without error.

_Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, _

_To storm or fire, the world must fall_

_An oath to keep with a final breath_

_And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death_

No one spoke after Faith finished. Upon hearing it she remembered perfectly, and it sent chills up Annabeth's spine, letting her know she certainly could not go through another battle like that one.

"You think I'm part of the seven?" Annabeth asked breathlessly.

"Well Percy does," Phillip stated.

"But that's not what you said early," she started to recall. "You told Chiron something about knowledge lost ten years past?"

"Bare with me here, Annabeth. Do you know remember when you met me, we where years away from completing The Great Prophecy, but every smaller quest we received contributed in some way to the big one?"

She nodded. She did remember.

"Well our friend Phillip over here received a prophesy involving four people. The son of the sky, a healer among healers, the old boy of the sea, and knowledge lost ten years past. Phillip is obviously the son of the sky, being the son of Zeus and the one who was given the prophesy. Faith is the healer among healers, being the daughter of Apollo, and often being referred to as the most exceptionally talented camper in the Apollo cabin," out of the corner of her eye Annabeth saw Faith blush, "and the old boy of the sea is yours truly. That just leaves knowledge lost ten years past. Knowledge refers to Athena, and ten years ago you decided to no longer grace us with your presence. Simple." Percy's explanation was easy enough to follow, but the way he accused her of simply deciding not to come around anymore made her madder at him than she had been all night. How dare he say something like that to her, after everything he had deliberately put her through? He couldn't just accuse her of not showing up to camp one summer, when he was the one who pushed her away.

"You mean to tell me you dragged me all the way out here for some baby prophesy that probably doesn't even mean anything?" She no longer acknowledged anyone else in the room; it was just her and Percy. She started him down. This was not an apology, this was him being selfish again, and that last comment just confirmed his arrogance. How could he just expect her to come running back all those years ago?

"The prophesy said everything short of your actual name. It's talking about _you_, Annabeth! What more do you need?"

"What else did the damn thing say?" She repositioned herself, ignoring Percy and facing Phillip.

Phillip kept his composure against the angry architect. "It was actually very vague, even for a prophesy, which is slightly concerning. It says we need to travel to Los Angeles to receive a message. That's pretty much it. I plan on going, and I would really love it if you would join us, Annabeth." He smiled at her, and Annabeth determined he was sincere.

Phillip's politeness mitigated Annabeth's anger to an extent. She slumped back in her chair, rubbing her eyes. "I don't know guys, I really need some time to think."

Percy opened his mouth to protest, but Chrion intercepted him. "That's too be expected and we want you to take the time that you need, Annabeth." His voice was soothing. She was getting tired.

"Okay," she agreed, unable to summon anything else.

For the rest of the night she let herself be entertained by stories of monsters and heroes, good versus bad, and she honestly enjoyed every minute of it. Faith was a sweet heart, Phillip was over confident, she was steadily ignoring Percy, and she realized just how much she missed Grover and Chiron. She felt like a teenager again she realized what a dangerous situation this was for her to be in, but the worst part was she didn't even mind. She felt her resolve slipping away but she was too tired to care.

Eventually she was aware of the plans to get her back to her house. Percy would take her home, but this time in a car and not on a Pegasus.

In the car she checked her blackberry for the first time. The screen lit up with curse words and angry phrases from Lucy. Oops, looks like Lucy had noticed she left.

Ryan had called a few times, one was recent. She really should have contacted him at some point, because looking back she realized the last thing he heard from her was that she was going to the restroom, and then she was abducted via fly horse. He probably thought she got kidnapped, which she sort of did. Either way she decided to call him back, seeing as she owed him an apology and the missed call was only from about twenty minutes past.

He answered on the first ring. "Hey," she said, trying to act all smooth. She laughed to herself, what a dork. His voice shifted, "Where were you?"

"I'm sorry I disappeared, I had some urgent matters to attend to." She cringed internally. Urgent matters? Who says that?

"I was worried, I thought you went home, but I just stopped at you're apartment and you weren't there." She immediately hoped he was still there. She felt drained and she knew she needed him right now.

"Are you still there?"

"I just left."

"I'm ten minutes out. Meet me there?"

"Of course," they said goodbye and hung up. She was relieved; at least he wasn't mad at her.

"Who was that?" Percy asked quietly. She hadn't talked to him throughout the whole ride, mainly because she was so tired but also because she was still mad at him.

"Oh that was…" She trailed of momentarily. What did she call him? Ryan? Her boyfriend? A friend? Her college psychology class came to mind. Why didn't she want to tell Percy that was her boyfriend? "That was Ryan."

"The guy from the pictures in your office?"

"Yeah, Ryan. He's just, someone." They dropped the subject. Once they arrived at her building she saw Ryan sitting on the steps. She no longer cared about Percy's presence, Ryan was who she needed.

What should she say to Percy? Thank you? Good to see you? Please don't ever kidnap me again?

He solved the problem for her. "I'll be in touch," he said formally. She nodded and awkwardly got out of the car without saying anything. Ryan stood up and opened his arms for her, and she fell into them gratefully.

He looked at her and she didn't want him to. Her hair was falling out, and she was pretty sure her makeup was smeared. She had that up all night look on her face which really isn't attractive at all. His hand found the slit in her dress. "It's ripped," he commented, but she looked at his face and it had questions written all over it.

"Oh, I guess it is," she had forgotten about that.

Percy revved the engine and sped away. Annabeth thought about how unnecessary it was, but Ryan pulled back to look. "Who was that?" he asked.

"Oh, that was Percy." She paused, "he's just, someone."

**Answers will come eventually I promise! And (I'm really really hoping) they're worth the wait! Have I mentioned that I love you all so much? Because I do. Show me a little love in return (R&R). Thanks all! **


	4. Ominous Phone Calls

**Words cannot describe how much I love you all, but maybe a quick update can! Thank you all for the unwavering support. This chapter is intentionally short, it gives you at least Percy's side of the story and sets up for the next chapter. Enjoy!**

_Annabeth had been staring at the phone for a solid five minutes before she finally got the courage to dial the number. She listened to the voicemail again, making sure she heard it right. Yes, she had definitely heard it right, and that's what made this all the more nerve racking. She hit redial and put the receiver up to her ear, not sure if she really wanted anyone to pick up._

"_Hello?" A female voice answered_

"_Hi, I received a call from this number earlier and was asked to call back as soon as possible. My name is Annabeth Chase—"_

"_We've been expecting your call, Miss Chase, and I can assure you the matter is of the upmost importance. Please hold while we transfer your call." _

**Percy POV**

Percy felt the sweat dripping down the back of his neck. It was so hot it was starting to distract him. He felt the sharp swish of bronze just grazing the top of his head, reminding him that he _could not_ let himself get distracted. He dropped to the ground to avoid the sword, realizing he gave the enemy an advantage just as the sword struck into the dirt right between his arm and his chest. He rolled away as fast as he could, looking for opportunities to get back on his feet, but it wasn't happening as the blade kept swinging in close proximity to his head. Percy noticed his enemy hesitated for half a second while pulling the sword out of the ground, giving him the chance he needed to regain his footing. Percy thurst Riptide, but his opponent dodged. He heard yelling off to the side, but he couldn't make out what was being said. The boy looked off only for a second, but in that second Percy tackled him to the ground and pinned him there. They landed with a thud and the boy's weapon flew out of his hand, Percy's blade at his throat.

"Phillip! You're going to have to do better than that. If you were fighting for real you would be dead right now!" Percy said standing up, offering Phillip a hand.

"I know, I'm off my game today," Phillip took Percy's hand, stood up, and dusted himself off. They both walked over to where Grover was sitting on the side of the arena. "Grover man, what were you shouting about?"

"I was just trying to distract you guys, and it worked, Percy won."

"Thanks," Phillip muttered.

They both drank their water hastily. Phillip and Percy were breathing heavy, Grover just swatted at a fly that had been bothering him. Percy felt awkward standing with the two, who had been kind enough not address the subject of Annabeth, even though it was the elephant in the room, especially for Grover.

At that thought, Grover seemed to read Percy's mind. "I'm sorry, but Percy, can we please talk about last night."

"Yeah what's the story with Annabeth anyway?" Phillip asked. "She's hot."

"She's 10 years older then you," Percy responded.

"So?" Phillip grinned.

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" Percy asked, annoyed.

"Oh Faith knows I love her," Phillip laughed. "But seriously, what's the story with you two?"

"Annabeth is just a friend, a friend that I went to camp with, and haven't seen in years."

"Don't let him lie to you! They dated for a summer, and they were always flirting with each other for years before that," Grover explained.

"What happened?" Phillip asked.

"She left me," Percy answered quietly, looking at his feet. "She went to California to stay with her dad for a few months. She was supposed to come back but she never did. End of story."

"Not end of story!" Grover snorted. "After she never came back to New York, he _followed_ her to California!" Phillip started laughing hysterically, and Percy felt a sudden flash of anger, remembering Grover's Los Angeles comment from the previous night.

"I did not follow her to California, work just happened to take me there. Camp needed someone out there to monitor mount Tam and everything, so I went." Percy had taken a job with the camp shortly after graduating high school. Doing some basic monitoring, fighting off the occasional monsters, just keeping the two coasts connected.

"I'm really sorry bro, I can tell you really care about her," Phillip fished another water bottle out of the cooler. Why was it so hot out today? It's only spring, it shouldn't be almost 90 degrees.

"He hasn't gotten over her. I mean sure, he's dated other girls, and but he hasn't really gotten over her. That's why he went to go get her back." Grover finished with a smug look on his face, like he was thinking he won. Percy considered whipping his sword out and skewering him right there.

"It's understandable. Every guy has that one girl that he never really gets over." Phillip commented.

"I've gotten over Annabeth! She was an excellent, skilled fighter, and I thought since we might be dealing with the fate of the world here we could use a little of that." Percy defended himself. He added the next part softly, "plus I think she has a boyfriend."

"She doesn't look like any child of the war goddess I've ever seen," Phillip whispered under his breath. "She showed up here wearing a pink dress with sequins all over, and high heels, I've never seen a child of Athena like that."

"So she values her appearance. She's kind of famous, I can understand that." Percy's train of thought moved to the billboard near the Lincoln tunnel. He remembered the first time he saw her picture up there, staring at the city. He knew she wasn't in California anymore, but her being back in New York was something he hadn't anticipated.

"She seemed a little intimidated to be honest," Phillip rambled on.

"She was probably just a little nervous, or shocked." Grover defended her. "I would be too. Percy should have eased her into it, not thrown her right into the middle."

"Whatever, she's in it now," Percy took Riptide out of his pocket. He and Phillip walked back out to the middle of the arena. Phillip was skilled, one of the best Percy had seen in a while. He lacked discipline, and he was clumsy, but he knew how to fight. He would certainly be the leader of the seven when the time came.

"So is Annabeth here to stay now or what? Like I said, she's extremely hot." Phillip swung his sword and it flew out of this hand, a perfect example of his clumsiness.

"Phil! Girlfriend!" Percy exclaimed, pointing in the general direction of the cabins.

"I'm just joking dude chill," Phillip tried to spin his sword again, and yet again it got away from him. "I would never encroach on your girl like that."

"She's not my, oh whatever. Do it like this," Percy demonstrated, keeping the sword in control the whole time. Phillip tried like Percy and managed to catch on, he was a fast learner.

Grover just couldn't seem to let the subject of Annabeth go. "You don't think you're going to win her back, do you?" Concern was on his face. Percy was conflicted on this subject. His mind flashed back to the night before, and Annabeth saying "I don't even know you". That was true; they didn't know each other anymore. He couldn't say Annabeth wasn't a soft spot for him, or at least the Annabeth he knew. But there was also the fact that she had really hurt him when she left. She really wasn't the person he thought he knew at all, refusing to talk to him or give him any sort of reasoning for the break up. It was like she just got tired of him and broke off any sort of relationship. It had been one of the hardest things Percy had gone through, because he had loved her so much.

"Nah, I just honestly think she would make a good addition to the team." And that was the end of that conversation.

**Annabeth POV**

Ryan was gone, Annabeth was caught up on sleep, so she had nothing left to do but go to work. She really didn't want to, which was strange considering she was about to start a huge project that could potentially add a building to the New York skyline. If that wasn't something to be excited about she wasn't sure what was.

She knew she was going to have to buckle down, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Percy and camp. He said he would be in touch, but he hadn't called yet. Of course it had only been a day, but each minute seemed like an hour. She wasn't sure why she wanted to hear from him so badly, maybe subconsciously the idea of an adventure seemed exciting or something. Certainly it couldn't have anything to do with Percy, she didn't want to open herself up to get hurt again.

Once at work her receptionist said she didn't have any messages, but she went to check the other machine in her office. The machine flashed with one new message. Annabeth's heart fluttered, it had to be Percy.

Relief came when she hit play and the monotone voice of some unknown female filled the room. Oh, it must be work related.

"Hi this message is for Annabeth Chase," The woman said. "Please call the following number as soon as possible and ask for Rachel Dare, it's urgent. Thank you."

Annabeth's stomach dropped. Definitely not work related.

**Please review if you liked it! I hope to have an update out by next Sunday, and I'm super excited about the next chapter!**


	5. I'm The Oracle, I Know Everything

**I'll keep it short: sorry for no updates, life happened, I apologize, here's the next chapter. Enjoy.**

_The receptionist at the desk handed Annabeth a package as she came back from her morning run. She ran up to her apartment and opened it with excitement, knowing it had to be her new handbag. She had wanted this bag for a long time, and she had been waiting on it for about a week. It was like Christmas all over again. The bag was beautiful. It was leather with the Louis Vuitton logo embroidered on it. She unzipped it so she could feel the inside. Her hand hit something hard and cold that was placed within, and upon looking in she almost dropped the bag, clutching the table to keep herself standing. She peered inside again. It was still there, it wasn't going away. How had that even gotten in there?_

_What the hell was going on?_

Annabeth brushed her hand against her side, making sure he bag was still securely in place at her hip. She wasn't sure what she was so afraid of, maybe if someone stole her bag it could count as a blessing.

She had been so excited for this bag to arrive too, and the events of this morning just ruined it. After she figured out what was going on she planned on ditching the thing, convinced it was now cursed or tainted in some way. When she got the package this morning she was so ecstatic, ripping open the box and tearing the new bag out. She loved it. That is, until she looked inside.

Now she glanced around nervously, it was almost noon. She was supposed to be meeting Rachel at her favorite little café at twelve, and Annabeth was getting more and more anxious by the second. She wasn't sure what was going to happen in the next hour, but it could either be extremely horrible or the exact opposite. Maybe Rachel could possibly give her some insight.

Her drink arrived and she sipped it casually, trying to look like nothing was bothering her, while on the inside she was a nervous wreck. Her phone was sitting on the table in front of her, so she picked it up and sent another text message to Lucy, who was still exceptionally mad at her.

_To: Lucy Hamilton_

_Lucy, I love you. Don't hate me. Things just got really weird that night and I had to take off. I know I've already sent you about 5 text messages, but I'm sorry, please call me, or text me or something._

Annabeth's anxiety always spiked when Lucy was mad at her. This girl was her anchor. The times when Annabeth was on the verge of a breakdown Lucy would always show up bearing good food and cheesy movies. And Annabeth didn't really have any other good friends. She had casual friends, who she could talk to about things if no one else was around, but they didn't really know her as well as Lucy did, and she didn't like any of them as much as she liked Lucy. She had Ryan as well, but a boyfriend is different from a best friend. Annabeth knew she had really slipped up, and couldn't explain to Lucy why.

She had gotten so lost in thought about the whole Lucy situation that she didn't notice someone had arrived at her table. Only when the woman spoke did it pull Annabeth out of her trance. She glanced up and saw a glimpse of red, then did a double take. Rachel Elizabeth Dare was standing right in front of her.

"Rachel," Annabeth said sounding slightly taken back, like she hadn't expected Rachel to show up. Maybe some small part of her was hoping that Rachel wouldn't.

"Annabeth! It's so great to see you!" They hugged, and sat down at the table. The first thing Annabeth took in was Rachel's appearance. She wore jeans with holes at the knees, and a shirt that read _SVA New York_, which was covered in paint. She had not changed at all. Rachel had obviously matured some, like everyone else that was coming back into Annabeth's life, because she looked her age, twenty six like the rest of them. "When I heard you were back in New York I kept meaning to call you and catch up, but I never had any real motivation to until now," Rachel was saying.

"And what was your real motivation?" Annabeth inquired.

"I just thought you might like to know what the gods have in store for you," Rachel smiled and raised an eyebrow, probably amused by the look Annabeth could feel on her face. Of course Rachel knew what was going on; she was the oracle after all. Maybe Annabeth would finally get some straight answers. "But anyway, first, how have you been? How has life been treating you since I last saw you?" Rachel changed the subject

"Oh you know," Annabeth responded. "I've got my work, and my boyfriend, and friends, and there really isn't much more than that." That was Annabeth's reality. It sounded pretty pathetic saying it out loud, but there wasn't really much more to her life. She would wake up, go to work, come home, go out, and go home with Ryan, everyday like clockwork. "I want to hear how you've been. The School of Visual Art, I'm impressed." Annabeth noted, referencing her tee shirt. "I'm happy you ended up going to art school."

"Of course I did, I wasn't going to let some fancy ladies academy change me," Rachel said proudly. "Two years in that place didn't do a thing for me, much to my father's dismay. I graduated and enrolled in art school as soon as possible."

"I'm so happy for you, it seems like we both ended up doing what we love. Are you still living in the city?" Annabeth asked.

"I live here half of the year, and the other half I live down in Miami. I'm in a pretty committed relationship with a man there, but he can't leave for another year or two because of work. I try to go down there for a month and he tries to come up here for a month. It works, somehow, but I like it up here much better. The weather in Miami is unbearable during the summer."

"I've never Miami, and it's really great that you've found someone." Annabeth smiled. "But what if a camper needs a prophesy? How do they handle you being gone?"

"Well, I've taken to giving prophecies over the phone now days." Annabeth was a little shocked, that doesn't seem like something that would be allowed at all. How did that work? Did campers just call Rachel's private number and get prophesies? The idea seemed very foreign and Annabeth wasn't sure how she felt about it.

"You can do that?" Annabeth asked very skeptically.

"Yes, the rules have changed a lot. But you wouldn't know would you?"

Annabeth looked away guiltily. She wasn't sure what to say next. How could she possibly explain herself to Rachel? She didn't think Rachel would get it, much less anyone else. "I just didn't feel like I could come back."

"Why's that?" Rachel asked innocently, although she probably knew the answer already.

"I don't know…" But she did know, she just didn't want to admit it because it was her fatal flaw. Rachel just looked at her, not satisfied with that answer. "Fine," Annabeth said a little louder. She gritted her teeth and threw out her answer, "it was my damn pride."

"Now that sounds like the good old Annabeth Chase I know," Rachel laughed.

Annabeth hated admitting she was a slave to her fatal flaw, and always tried her hardest to keep her pride at bay. She tried to explain herself. "I just, Percy had just left me, and I didn't feel like I could face him again, or anyone else. We were supposed to be the perfect couple, everyone thought so! I couldn't go back to camp and face everyone who had this image of us in their heads, because it seemed like the equivalent of failure. And Percy, he didn't even have the courtesy to tell me himself that we were over, I had to hear it from his _mother_. And it wasn't like he was some random camper either, he was a hero. The great hero of the war, Percy Jackson. Every day I would have had to hear about him, and how great he was, and every day I would have been reminded about how he left me sitting at an airport for hours. I knew I couldn't do it, so I ran away." Annabeth had surprised herself with the sudden outflow of information. She had never shared the entirety of the situation with anyone, and she pretty much just opened up completely to someone she hadn't spoken to in ten years.

At the end of the story Rachel looked more troubled than anything. "That doesn't sound like Percy at all," she stated.

"I didn't think so either, but here we are." Her voice was blunt.

Rachel changed the subject. "I can tell you've changed," she commented. "Not in a bad way at all, you just look like an older version of yourself. But I guess that tends to happen as we age. You look like a more experienced version of the Annabeth Chase I knew."

"That's actually a good way of putting it," Annabeth considered it. Maybe that's how she should start explaining herself to people, experienced.

They made casual conversation like that for a while. It felt nice to catch up with Rachel, sitting around having lunch, doing something normal, not flying over Manhattan on a magical creature. She had had too much of that over the past few days.

Eventually they got back on the subject of why Rachel had called Annabeth in the first place. Rachel's thoughts suddenly seemed scattered, and she managed to explain it in a way that didn't answer many of Annabeth's questions, and this frustrated her.

"I have to apologize. I had originally intended to tell you everything," Rachel started with, "but due to some information that has just recently come to light, I feel it might not be my place anymore. Or I at least need to do some more digging first. A lot is going to happen in the next couple of weeks, so you should stay on your toes, Annabeth."

"Can you at least tell me why it has to be me? Why do I have to be involved in whatever's going on?" Annabeth asked, looking for some big, giant, cosmic loophole.

"A lot of people owe Aphrodite favors, and she's collecting." Rachel mumbled, more to herself than to Annabeth. "But, unfortunately that's all I can say on the subject right now. Try not to be so hard on Percy. I doubt he really knows what's going on anymore that you do."

"I'm not being hard on Percy because he dragged me into this, I'm being hard on Percy because this is the first time I've spoken to him since he left me stranded at a major airport,"

That troubled look that had appeared on Rachel's face after Annabeth's confession returned again, and Annabeth grew a little more concerned. "Just, go easy on Percy for the time being until I get a chance to talk to you again." Annabeth agreed when she realized how serious Rachel was.

Annabeth's blackberry started vibrating in her lap. Rachel paused to let her read the message. It was from Lucy. All it said was "I forgive you". Annabeth knew not to take Lucy's words at face value. This message meant that Lucy was still pretty mad at her, but was willing to reconcile of Annabeth came bearing gifts. Usually gifts of chocolate worked well enough, and Annabeth made a mental note to get Lucy something later.

"I should let you go," Rachel said after Annabeth put her phone down. It had been a little over an hour even though it didn't feel like it at all. "If you go from here and get Lucy that good white chocolate from Dean & DeLuca's she'll forgive you no problem. Or you could always tell her truth and tell her you were whisked away by and old boyfriend who speaks horse, but I don't foresee that going over too well. I recommend the chocolate option."

"I didn't know you as the oracle long enough not to find it creepy that you know everything about me and all my friends. I'll have to get used to it though," Annabeth laughed, the white chocolate was exactly what she had in mind.

The girls stood up to say their goodbyes, and promised to keep in touch. Rachel was apologizing again for giving Annabeth basically no information, but Annabeth didn't mind. It was actually very nice to spend part of the afternoon with Rachel, even if Annabeth didn't get the answers she wanted. If anything, she had a sure fire apology present for Lucy. Psychic friends come in handy.

Rachel said she would surely be seeing Annabeth around, and the cryptic tone in her voice made Annabeth a little wary.

"Wait, Rachel. So is this prophesy going to end up being important to the next Great Prophesy, or is that just some junk Percy is trying to throw at me?"

Rachel smiled but had to think for a moment. "You could definitely argue that this prophesy is important to the next Great Prophesy, but that's not my view on it. This quest is nothing like what you've seen before, Annabeth."

"Can you elaborate at all?"

"I think I've already said too much for today," the apologetic tone in her voice was obvious, so Annabeth let the subject go.

She was about to turn and leave, when Rachel spoke again. "Oh, but Annabeth, there is something else I can tell you."

"What's that?" Annabeth asked.

"Make sure you keep a tight hold on your purse today, you might need it soon," that statement made Annabeth freeze in place. She grasped at her bag which still hanging on her shoulder. The lunch with Rachel had almost made her forget about that, but now it was brought to the front of her attention again.

"How do you know what's in my bag?" She asked nervously.

"Lucky guess?" Rachel mocked her. "Because I'm the oracle! I know everything." With that Rachel winked, waved, and walked away. Now Annabeth was more than a little shaken up, "you might need it soon"? What in the world could that mean?

Trying to push those thought out her head she left, headed in the direction of Dean & DeLuca's holding onto her bag for dear life as she walked.

**Well, our main protagonists stories don't seem to be matching up, I wonder what could be going on. Review if you liked it, or don't review if you didn't. I love all of you and hope to have another chapter out soon! **


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